Do Birds of a Feather Flock Together? Speculator Herding in the World Oil Market

Robert Weiner ()
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Robert Weiner: Resources for the Future

RFF Working Paper Series from Resources for the Future

Abstract: This paper looks at speculative behavior in the international oil market. Much of the blame for oil-market turbulence has been placed on speculators, particularly hedge funds. Speculative capital has been characterized as “hot money,” with capital flows driven by “herding,” “flocking,” and “contagion.” Policies to deal with volatility by weakening, or even disabling speculation, have been based largely on anecdote, convenience (speculators have long served as scapegoats for various problems), and ideology, rather than careful analysis. Part of the problem arises from the secrecy with which speculators operate. Because speculative trading cannot easily be observed, it is difficult to assess speculators’ contribution, if any, to volatility. The paper utilizes a large, detailed database on individual trader positions in crude-oil and heating-oil futures markets. The paper is exploratory, with focus on measuring and assessing the tendency of speculators to herd (trade in the same direction as a group) and flock (trade in the same direction by subgroups of speculators).

Keywords: oil; speculation; volatility; herding; derivatives; futures (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: G13 G18 L71 Q48 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2006-06-29
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-ene, nep-fin and nep-fmk
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

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